Podcaster: Rob Webb
Title: Last Minute Astronomer April 2025
Organization: Physics teacher at Pequea Valley High School
Link: http://mrwebb.podbean.com ;
https://sites.google.com/site/mrwebbonline/ ;
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrWebbPV
https://sites.google.com/site/pvplanetarium/home
follow me : @MrWebbPV on Twitter ; @lastminuteastronomer on Facebook and Instagram
Don’t forget this podcast is found on my Podbean page, Stitcher, and iTunes. There’s also a video version on my YouTube Channel and I can be found on Twitter and Instagram as @mrwebbpv. The Pequea Valley Planetarium and its events and updates are on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as @pvplanetarium.
Use a sky map from www.skymaps.com to help you out.
Description: April of 2025 brings us the annual Lyrid meteor shower, all the naked-eye planets, and plenty of lunar close encounters.
Today’s sponsor: Big thanks to our Patreon supporters this month: Rob Leeson, David Bowes, Brett Duane, Benett Bolek, Mary Ann, Frank Frankovic, Michael Freedman, Kim Hay, Steven Emert, Frank Tippin, Rani Bush, Jako Danar, Joseph J. Biernat, Nik Whitehead, Michael W, Cherry Wood, Steve Nerlich, Steven Kluth, James K Wood, Katrina Ince, Phyllis Foster, Don Swartwout, Barbara Geier, Steven Jansen, Donald Immerwahr
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Transcript:
April of 2025 brings us the annual Lyrid meteor shower, all the naked-eye planets, and plenty of lunar close encounters.
I’m Rob, your Last Minute Astronomer, bringing astronomy to normies and nerds, with little time to spare.
We’ll start by talking about this month’s big events, then highlight the naked eye planets, and finish up with the lunar phases, so you can plan ahead better than me.
EVENTS
22nd – LYRID METEOR SHOWER – Around 10-20 meteors per hour, the Lyrids are a minor shower, but a meteor shower indeed. And this year, the Moon will rise very early in the morning, meaning we have clear skies until that point, and even then, it’s not so bright. The shower is greatest on the 22nd, but you might see some on the 21st and 23rd as well. Just remember each meteor is a piece of debris left over from a comet, and we’re crashing into it at over 100,000 miles per hour, which crushes the atmosphere it hits, heating it up and causing the bright flash. There is no real best time to see these this year, but the later, the better. You never know when you’ll see something awesome.
Some advice for watching:
Find a dark location and lie down in a reclining chair or something that insulates you from the ground.
Check the weather to see if the skies will be clear
Adapt your eyes to the dark by staying away from light sources or using a red light if you need to look at a star chart or not trip over something.
Naked-eye PLANETS
Sunset
Jupiter – Halfway up the sky in the W after sunset, above Taurus’ head, in between its horns, setting around midnight. Later in the month, Jupiter is lower in the sky and sets around 11pm.
Mars – Almost straight above us after sunset, right near the twin stars of Gemini, Pollux and Castor, setting by 3:30am. Throughout the month, Mars will move away from Gemini and toward Cancer, setting around 2am.
Morning
Venus, Saturn, Mercury – A GREAT little challenge for the month! Get out before sunrise, and look over a clear horizon to the East. The easiest one to find will be Venus, hovering 10-15˚ above the horizon, and very bright. It’ll be the last “star” to fade from view. Mercury and Saturn hang out less than 10˚ below Venus, with Saturn off to the right a little, and Mercury to the left. The Moon crashes the party on the 24th to the 26th.
Lunar Events
LUNAR CYCLE
Evening Crescents (look West after Sunset)
First Quarter Moon – 4th (Visible until midnight)
Evening Gibbous (Mostly lit, after Sunset)
Full Moon – 12th (Visible all night)
Waning Gibbous (Mostly lit, rises later at night)
Last Quarter Moon – 20th (Visible midnight into the morning)
Morning Crescents (look East in the AM)
New Moon – 27th (darkest skies)
LUNAR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
The Moon will be traveling across the sky as normal, passing by some planets at particular times.
2nd – Find the Waxing Crescent Moon just 5˚ above bright Jupiter, setting around midnight.
5th – The just-past-first-quarter Moon will be just 3˚ above Mars, setting around 3:30am.
22nd – 26th – Get out before 6am and look East over a fairly clear horizon. Venus, Saturn, and Mercury will be hanging out directly East, less than 15˚ above the horizon. The Moon will be a nice crescent on the 22nd, off in the SE, 45˚ to the right of the planets. By the 24th, the Moon will be thinner and harder to find, but will be just 10˚ (one fist-width) to the right of bright Venus. See if you can find Venus, then look 4˚ below that for VERY dim Saturn. Mercury will be 10˚ to the left of Saturn, in line with the Moon. On the 25th, the Moon will be directly in between Venus and Mercury, with Saturn off to the right. Lastly, on the 26th, the Moon will have moved through the planets, will be much thinner, and harder to see, 8˚ to the left of Mercury.
30th – Coming back around again, the VERY thin crescent Moon is just 6˚ above Jupiter, setting around midnight.
And that’s the sky for this month. If you find this advance notice of the night sky helpful, please support this work by finding Last Minute Astronomer on Patreon, and don’t forget to follow Last Minute Astronomer on Facebook and Instagram. Till next month, I’m the Last Minute Astronomer wishing you fruitful plans and clear skies.
Music was produced by Deep Sky Dude and used with permission.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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